About Narayan Rane

Narayan Tatu Rane, an Indian National Congress (INC) leader, is one of the prominent political leaders of Maharashtra. Though Congress had earlier projected Prithviraj Chavan as Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming October 15 election, it seems now the party is in two minds. Narayan Rane has recently claimed that INC’s advertisments never suggested Prithviraj Chavan as their CM candidate. Rather he claimed himself to be one of the main contenders for the coveted post if Congress assumes power in the state assembly. In the past Narayan Rane had been the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for a short period of time (7 and ½ months).

Narayan Rane – Snapshot of Early Life

He was born on April 10, 1952 and had a humble beginning. He used to live in a low income housing society in Subhash Nagar and before entering politics he along with his friends opened a chicken shop for a living. However, his detractors point out some uneasy facts and associations in the past. It is alleged that during 1960s he was associated with Harya-Narya gang, which mainly operated in the Chembur area of North East Mumbai, and police record shows that a murder case is also there against his name at Ghatla police station. His detractors also allege that he joined Shiv Sena at that time to take on the rival gang of Mahadev Thakur.

Political Career of Narayan Rane

After joining Shiv Sena, Bal Thackarey witnessed his popularity among youth along with his dynamism and leadership qualities, which helped Rane move up the rank and file quickly. He also became Chief Minister after Manohar Joshi stepped down. After ascension of Uddhav Thackarey to the party president’s position, he criticised his administrative abilities and was then expelled from the party. He later joined the INC, won the MLA election, becoming the first ever SS rebel to win an MLA election.

Narayan Rane’s Political Journey

Narayan joined politics at the age of 16 years in 1968 and started mobilising large groups of youths for Shiv Sena. His organisational abilities helped him become Shakha Pramukh of SS Chembur branch the same year. During 1985 to 1990 he became Corporator of his party.

He got elected to Maharashtra Assembly in the year 1990 and completed his full term. This is the time when he also became Leader of Opposition. His ascension in the party took momentum when Chhagan Bhujbal left Shiv Sena in the year 1991. Rane became a full fledged minister in the year 1996 (Revenue Minister) during the Shiv Sena–BJP government. It was only in the first half of 1999 that he became Chief Minister of the state (February 1, 1999 – October 17, 1999). However, his association with Shiv Sena ended on July 3, 2005 when he was expelled from the party after criticising the newly appointed Shiv Sena president, Uddhav Thackeray, the son of Bal Thackeray. After expulsion, he joined Congress and again won the assembly election. He went on to become Minister for Revenue of Maharashtra (August 16, 2005 to December 6, 2008). However, he again rebelled in Congress and was suspended from the party for six long years. After apologising to Sonia Gandhi, he was re-inducted in the party and went on to become Industries Minister in 2009 (February 10 – November 9). However, in 2014 he again criticised the then Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s working style. According to him some of the projects were not implemented even after three years of decision making. He resigned but withdrew it quickly. He has now expressed his intentions of becoming Chief Minister of Maharashtra, challenging Prithviraj Chavan’s claim, if Congress assumes power in the state.
WBDB10.10.2014